The definitive audiovisual collections of U.S. Space History

March 16, 2013

We've left the 10% off the entire order discount going, mainly for our international customers, who have seen an increase in shipping rates from the US. We're also offering a free shipping option for customers with orders over $125. To take advantage of the free shipping (for orders over $125), use the discount code "FREE" in the US and "INTERNATIONAL" outside the US.

And as a reminder, ALL of our products are coded as Region 0 for worldwide play (they are unrestricted).

March 12, 2013

This day in space history... today would have been Wally Schirra's 90th birthday. The only astronaut to fly on Mercury, Gemini and Apollo, he was a great supporter and especially loved our Project Mercury set. His humor is missed. Happy Birthday, Wally!

All of the material from our Apollo 1 DVD set is now on our streaming site, at spacehistory.tv. During the process of preparation I revisited the production of that set, looked through some notes and thought again about that journey.

During the research for the Apollo 1 set I located the complete spacecraft communication audio, which was not restricted. It was, in fact, open to the public in a research room. My initial thought was that we would NOT include the uncut audio in the set.

As I listened to the material myself, on a sunny afternoon in a research room in College Park, MD, the Apollo 1 fire was transformed from a historical event into a human tragedy with definable features. I felt a deeper understanding of the human loss we suffered with Apollo 1 than I ever had before. Emerging soon afterward into the sunshine, I felt a melancholy guilt, and I decided hearing the accident in full, as it happened, was useful to understanding.

Therefore, we included the uncut audio on the DVD set and we've included it in the Apollo 1 streaming materials.

Since one can't "look away from a sound," we've also included an edited version of this material should you wish to refrain from hearing the very short but disturbing last transmission.

March 01, 2013

Seems as though for a couple of years now I've been asked about a streaming option for our products. I'm pleased to announce we are starting one now. Spacehistory.tv is now live, with our Live From the Moon and our Project Mercury products available for streaming. Apollo 9 will be added on March 3 (the 44th anniversary of the launch) and we'll be adding missions and products at the rate of 2-3 per week.

The service is accessable through an overall subscription to the site for a year, as a rental of individual products, and as a rental if individual titles.

We hope you enjoy another way to enjoy the proud legacy of the US in space. We welcome your feedback.

February 27, 2013

As expected yesterday's post on our streaming service has generated a lot of questions. I'll answer some of the specifics on Friday when I make it live, but some of the questions need answering right away.

1) The three pending DVD products, two that we're shipping preorders and one that is in production (Apollo 11: To the Moon, The Cape, and Space Shuttle: First Flights) will NOT be available for streaming before all of the pre-orders are delivered. In fact they will NOT be available for streaming until all of the other products are online and all of the pre-orders are delivered. I may delay them for streaming for a longer term after that point, I don't know yet. This is to be fair to those who have ordered and waited for these particular sets for a long time.

2) In some cases our streaming products will contain a few extras that couldn't fit on the DVDs themselves. These titles will only be available through streaming.

3) The decision has not yet been made on whether future projects (Skylab, ASTP, Development of the LM) will be released on DVD or streaming only. This will depend upon the marketplace direction of video delivery in the future. However, there will be some products that when we are out of DVDs we will not be releasing again on DVD. Mainly these are collections of pre-packaged NASA reports.

4) Our streaming service is designed to work on iPads and other tablets.

February 26, 2013

I'm very pleased to announce that beginning on Friday we will begin to offer our products via streaming as well as on DVD. We'll be rolling out products at the rate of one every two days, with several being available on Friday. We've been asked for this service for quite some time, and are pleased to be able to start offering it.

It is a subscription service, with a choice to buy individual videos, entire products, or a yearly subscription to the entire offering of video, at very reasonable pricing. And we'll continue to add to the offerings, including some items that couldn't be offered through a DVD, but can be through streaming. We will also be offering discounts on DVDs to those who use the streaming service.

I'll be posting on Friday the new address of the streaming service, and more info as it rolls out throughout the month of March. Thank you for your support of Spacecraft Films.

February 17, 2013

Our Project Mercury set is one of our best, packed with over 24 hours of material. Every unmanned and manned Mercury mission is on the set, including all of the Little Joe and pad abort tests. All of the onboard footage is present. In short - Mercury fulfills the vision of what we wanted to achieve with Spacecraft Films over 11 years ago.

February 13, 2013

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. His three-orbit flight lasted just under 5 hours. Glenn's flight and all of Project Mercury is covered extensively in our 6-DVD Mercury set. From the initial press conference selecting the Mercury astronauts, to footage of every test flight - including the beach abort, Little Joe, unmanned flights, to the most complete collection available of material on each of the manned flights. This sets is one of our best - new digital transfers and packed with over 24 hours of material.

Also available is our Friendship 7 iPad app, featuring an interactive mission control with the entire audio from the flight's onboard recorder and flight director loop, as well as all of the photographs taken during the mission. This app is an extraordinary way to experience the complete mission of Friendship 7, and also allows online access to the Friendship 7 footage from the Project Mercury DVD.